Maternal care can rapidly induce an odor-guided huddling preference in rat pups.
Olfactory-guided huddling is learned and expressed by postnatal day (PND) 15, when rat pups huddle preferentially with conspecifics or with targets bearing an odor previously associated with maternal care. Experiment 1 replicated this induction of an odor-guided huddling preference with a truncated regime of conditioning with a scented foster dam. Pups exposed to an odor in association with foster maternal care during five daily 2-hr sessions on PNDs 1-5, 5-9, or 10-14, but not pups merely exposed to the odor, displayed a huddling preference for the conditioned odor, but only when conditioning commenced after PND5. Experiment 2 demonstrated that a single, 2-hr exposure to a scented foster dam can induce a huddling preference in pups. Analysis of maternal behavior during the 2-hr conditioning sessions on PND14 revealed that frequency of maternal hovering over pups, but not licking/grooming or duration of contact, was associated with induction of the odor preference.
Kojima
Sayuri
S
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Alberts
Jeffrey R
JR
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009812:Odorants; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*